How does it work in Mexico, since you bring that up quite a lot? Does the government control the cost or do they just stay out of it. I really don't know.Originally Posted by gimmethesimplelife
It seams that the more the US government gets involved with a program the more things cost. Look at the cost of college.
Do you mean if you outsource your medical to Mexico for affordable access, or if you are a Mexican in the system? There a differences between these two scenarios, though I have once went to a Mexican free clinic - admittedly in Baja Norte which is one of the more prosperous states - and was very impressed. Rob
I haven't figured out where these countries with socialized medicine are that take in those who are fleeing there for the sole purpose of partaking of the socialized medicine.
Those countries tend to be very hard to get into. You've got to pretty much prove that you will not be a drain on their social services.
But everyone, good luck with that. If you find the way, let me know. I'd love to live in Yorkshire Eng or Vancouver Canada.
Hard to get into and then they kick out people who are obviously not a drain on their social services (Zoebird is coming back to us). And then if you get in, talk to people about how easy it is to get hired as an American in say Canada, it's not, even if you've got a professional skillset and it's a pretty good one.
Ever talked to people who were born in and have left those countries and don't want back? I have. Because America is so perfect and everything? No, they don't believe that, and they'd usually like a better social safety net in the U.S. - socialized medicine, more vacation, etc. but they see other things here, get used to it, etc. (plus I'm told a not insignificant factor is that the competition for professional jobs is worse some places than here - like everything else easier to deal with if you never get out of the habit of dealing with it).
Now if one wants to move to Latin America that they probably can do and there's nothing wrong with it, though I doubt it's for everyone.
Trees don't grow on money
Then again, you might be less likely to have talked to the people who did move back because they aren't here anymore to talk to.
The Atlantic has an interesting article on Why So Many Americans are Leaving the U.S. here:
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/...roblem/309410/
Health care costs in the U.S. per capita are $8,232 vs $965 in Mexico, for fairly comparable average life expectancies.
I wasn't drawing a statistical conclusion*. But it is true, I don't know if I could easily get hired elsewhere, which is maybe the second most important thing (second to the people I care about here). Politics is further down than those.Then again, you might be less likely to have talked to the people who did move back because they aren't here anymore to talk to.
* I was really just making the point that, contrary to popular belief, not everyone hates living here
Trees don't grow on money
There are Americans leaving now for a wide variety of reasons - some due to the cost of living, stagnant wages, or my favorite - terror of American health care. I'm sure there are many other valid reasons. It is actually getting harder to legally get into a few South American countries I favor due to so many Americans with money and a great skill set trying to get in. Not something you are going to hear often on the US media but true nonetheless. If I had kids I'd sure be telling them it might be wisest to pack up and run.....RobThen again, you might be less likely to have talked to the people who did move back because they aren't here anymore to talk to.
The Atlantic has an interesting article on Why So Many Americans are Leaving the U.S. here:
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/...roblem/309410/
Health care costs in the U.S. per capita are $8,232 vs $965 in Mexico, for fairly comparable average life expectancies.
There are also Americans, mostly younger, fleeing to Asia now as there is work for them there and health care is not a nightmare there in most of these countries. I have thought about this myself but the pace of life there and the overall dedication of life to the concept of work don't work for me. But for those who this works for that flee to Asia, more power to them, at least they are getting out of healthcare nightmares and debt per capita nightmares - with the exception of Japan.
Last edited by gimmethesimplelife; 10-5-13 at 1:18pm.
I'm thinking much more of South America - Chile and Uruguay especially strike me as interesting, especially Uruguay. There have been some interesting legal decisions in Uruguay lately - legal adoptions by gay parents, legal gay marriage, and legal marijuana (I don't partake but I think this US war on drugs is totally asinine). Rob Both have socialized medicine and in Uruguay it's only 20 years of work until you qualify for a pension - this is set in place as in Uruguay the mentality is that work is an evil necessity, why prolong it and let life pass you by? Truly my kind of thinking.....
I would not be leaving just due health care, I have other issues too that I don't really go into here as health care for me is the biggie - knowing 24/7 how little human life is valued in the US due to the lack of accessible health care for all really does not inspire much confidence or faith in the citizenship. Which I have posted on ad nauseum by now. But I do have other reasons - another of which would be the American tendency to put work over everything else, and to have far too busy lives and take pride in this, or at least wear it as a badge of honor. I know not everybody here does this, some of us here don't for example and that's great. I'm talking about society as a whole. Also the American tendency to think in terms of "me" over "we" - I'll never get used to that and all the toxicity I see that causing. I have yet more reasons but these are the biggies. Rob
While I'm not interested in the warm weather countries south of the border (can't grow anything that I want to grow there! ) I wonder what the entry requirements are for citizenship to grab those social programs?
I do really understand and admire a lifestyle that isn't devoted to 40+ hours of work for The Man, but I do not characterize the America I know as being that. You (the generic you) pick and choose your friends, your community, your society. If that's all that you experience, I say: find new friends, get the h*ll out of Dodge and move to another Dodge in another state. Personally, I find Phoenix to be one of the most ridiculous places on the planet-- conceptually. It's a megatropolis in the middle of the freakin' dessert. What a plastic, artificial place. But then, I love cities so it's not as though I am Miss Nature BackToTheWoods. I love real cities, old cities, the older the better and I have (illogical!) disdain for the new.
Am losing my point here except to say: The U.S. offers so much, how myoptic it is to generalize. I urge everyone to strike out and find "Your place" and "Your people." I've found it here in my city for 25 years, but I'm having a yen for something else. I'm very drawn to New Hampshire and the Libertarian movement there, that old Yankee Do It Yourself mindset, and the fascinating old houses and just the OLDNESS of the places. But am not drawn to more winter and shorter growing season.
Yet the perfect growing season, western Oregon would put me in with too many "progressive" citizens and I'd have to live in a 1960's ranch because I don't think there are any houses older than that (haha, a bit of a generalization.)
We are so fortunate in this country to have freedom of movement. Oh wait, I forgot, this thread is about How Bad Is America. Sometimes I can't keep on message.
Last edited by iris lilies; 10-5-13 at 12:57pm.
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